Much effort has been made in recent years to develop cleaning compositions which, by application to automobile, bus, or truck surfaces, would effectively remove road film from these vehicles. The road film is a diverse mixture of dirt, fuel and lubricant residues, soot and other materials which settle on the vehicle from the air or are picked up from roads; it resists the cleaning action of many detergent compositions. Because the detergent composition must not deteriorate the paint surface on the trucks and automobiles or corrode exposed metal components thereof, the highly alkaline or acidic detergent compositions normally used to remove greases and the like from metal parts cannot be safely used.
Various soap-impregnated pads and sponges are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,137 to Akrongold et al discloses a gel-impregnated sponge. The gel materials used in that invention are conventional and form no part of the present invention (column 3, lines 8-12). U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,704 to Barby et al describes articles suitable for wiping surfaces such as sponges or pads. The liquid cleaning composition applied to the substrate there comprises lower aliphatic water-miscible alcohols, nonionic or anionic surfactants and partially esterified resins. U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,565 to Flesher discloses an article useful in a process for cleaning fabrics utilizing a water-insoluble substrate. Preferred water-soluble surface-active agents for use in the articles of that invention include those selected from the group consisting of anionic surfactants, nonionic surfactants, zwitterionic surfactants, and mixtures thereof. These water-soluble surfactants include any of the common anionic, nonionic and zwitterionic detersive surfactants well known in the detergency arts (column 7, lines 61-64). U.S. Pat. No. 4,372,867 to Taragos discloses an upholstery cleaning pad impregnated with sodium lauryl sulfate, a glazing agent, a bleaching agent and degreasers.
Various compositions similar to the composition of the present invention are also known in the art. Fishman U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,589 discloses a detergent composition containing sodium alkyl sulfate, Triton X-100, sodium tripolyphosphate, and a fatty acid soap. U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,063 to Alder discloses a detergent composition containing sodium hydroxide, fatty acid, sodium ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid, sodium tripolyphosphate, a base, and water. U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,465 to Spekman discloses a detergent composition containing sodium hydroxide, sodium tripolyphosphate, tetrasodiumethylenediaminetetraacetate and hexylene glycol. Finally, Canadian Pat. No. 650,083 discloses detergent compositions with sodium hydroxide, a water soluble condensed phosphate and an organic calcium-sequestering agent containing the amino-diacetic acid group.
As noted above, however, no simple, highly effective and safe detergent composition has been found yet which completely satisfies the needs of the industry.